Alone
by Hotaru Yuy
Summary: A girl is left alone, by the one person she's known all of her life. What will she do?
1. Default Chapter

Alone

A pale, young girl looked up at the dark, gray sky. **It's about to rain **she thought. She shuddered as the wind whizzed by her, on it's way to some unknown place. 

            " Hotaru, come on it's time to go," called a boy that looked to be a few years older than her. The girl turned around and looked at the boy, as if she stared at him long enough he would just disappear. The boy, who was getting annoyed with her, ran up to her and grabbed her arm.

            " I said, it's time to go, now," he whispered forcibly so no one else in the park would hear. He then turned and started walking towards the car that was waiting for them.

            " I don't want to go," she replied, almost inaudibly. The boy whipped around to face her, his fists clenched at his sides, knowing that he couldn't hit her; he simply grabbed her hand and dragged her to the car, throwing her in the backseat. 

            " Don't ever do that again," he said once they were on the road. " You know that if you just stayed someplace the cops would pick you up and you'd have to go to some foster home where they'll find out about what you are and from there you'll go to a government institution where they can 'keep an eye on you',"  

            " But," she started.

            " There are no buts ok, I rescued you and don't you ever forget it. If I hadn't come along you would have been with that jerk you call a father for the few years you would have actually been alive." 

            "  But, are the foster homes really as bad as you say? I mean not everyone in the world is as bad as my dad," the girl named Hotaru replied softly. 

            " You know what," the boy said, stopping the car. " I'm beginning to think you aren't grateful for what I've done. Is that it? Do you want to go back to your dad? Because I can take you back right now, I don't have to put up with this you know, you aren't exactly the safest companion,"  

            "  I'm sorry Aaron, it's not that I'm not grateful it's just that…I don't know…I'm sick of all this running. I'm tired, I just want to rest," she said, breaking down into sobs.

            " Hey, now, don't go and cry. You remember what happened last time you cried, now that's a story, I thought that those people in the Sahara were gonna get washed away in the flood you started," he said softly. Aaron started up the car again and drove up to a small apartment complex. He unlocked the car and held the door so Hotaru could get out. 

~*~*~*~Three years later~*~*~*~

            " So, how was school?" a now nineteen year old Aaron asked.

            " I hate it!"  A sixteen-year-old Hotaru replied.

            " What happened?" Aaron asked, worried that they had made fun of her.

            " They're stupid, I could be a senior and still be ahead. I learned more when we were on the road than I did in one day at that stupid school," she stated angrily. " Tell me I don't have to go back, please?" she asked, looking up at him.

            " I can't, the cops will call if you aren't in school. Especially now that we are living here," he replied apologetically.

            " I won't go back! You can't make me!" she yelled, running up the stairs to their apartment and slamming the door to her room. Aaron walked up the steps after her, as he got to her room he hesitated before he walked in. 

            " What's wrong, it's not just the curriculum that they're teaching so don't give me that shit," he asked.

            " They made fun of me, because I wear black and I'm pale. They called me a gothic freak, and these guys…" here she stopped to wipe a tear from her eye, " they stopped me after school and they asked me these questions like what's my number and they hope I'm good. I just…I don't understand how people can be so mean, and it's only the first day. I can only imagine what the rest of the school year is going to be like," she looked at him, her unusual purple eyes filling with tears. " I'm not emotionless like you Aaron, I can't just ignore them. What am I supposed to do?" she asked. 

            " You're going to have to learn that you can't just cry over every mean word that gets spoken to you. These country hicks have no idea what you are and no idea what you can do, so ignore them. Their opinion of you doesn't matter. You are far more important than them, you know it and they know it, which is why they made fun of you. So get over them, and get over what they think. You have to go back to that school though. Now more than ever, you've got to learn that you can't just move out of the way when someone gives you a little shove," he replied sharply. Hotaru looked up with a stunned look upon her face, she hadn't expected him to tell her that she was going to have to deal with it on her own, normally he would have gone and killed somebody. " Hey, don't look so surprised. You have to learn with your own problems…I have something to tell you. I have to go, not for a few hours; I'm talking month's maybe years. Now, I already took care of everything, you've got a credit card, and the apartment is paid for so you'll be fine there. Other than that there's not much else, you've got a car so your transportation."  Hotaru looked as if someone had slapped her. 

            " No, you can't go, I mean I can't be left alone. Let me come with you, we've done it for years why not now?" 

            " You can't come. I'm sorry, but you have to stay, there's no changing it." 

            "When?" she asked softly.

            " When what?" 

            " When do you leave?" she repeated. 

            " Two days, I'm gonna miss you. I mean even if you are a little annoying sometimes." 

            " I…I'll miss you too. You'll write?" 

            "No, I can't. I won't be able to."

            " Why? Where are you going that you can't even write to me?" she asked, incredulous at this sudden change of events.

            " Lets just say that some of the people that I used to know, want me to do something for them, and it's something that requires me to disappear for a little while." Hotaru looked at him with eyes that could make stone cry. They sat there for several minutes like that, just staring at each other, neither one blinking.

            " I love you Aaron," Hotaru finally said. Aaron looked at her, a bit shocked that she would say that, yet he knew then and there that he would never again have the same feeling again, so he acted upon it.

            " I love you too Hotaru," he replied. They both leaned forward and kissed. 

Tw0 days later Hotaru waved at the train that took the only person she had ever loved in her life until it was out of site. She stood on the railway platform thinking back on the best two days of her life.

~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~

            "Hotaru, you know that after these two days, I'll be gone and you'll be alone again right?" Aaron asked softly after they kissed.

            " Yeah, but that's then and this is now. So let's live right now and not then," she replied softly. 

~*~*~*~End of Flashback~*~*~*~

She sighed remembering how they had spent their last two days together, alone in that two-bedroom apartment that she would now have to return to. She walked towards the car thinking on how she could get out of going to school without the cops finding out that she was alone and underage. 

" Maybe, I could just leave," she said, thinking aloud. She shook her head, dismissing the thought, knowing then, that when Aaron got back that he would be angry and disappointed.             "  Besides, I promised him that I would stay here and go to school," she replied to herself. Getting in the car she drove to the empty apartment that she would learn to call home, went into the room that she and Aaron had shared for the past two days, got into the bed and cried herself to sleep. 

Hotaru awoke the next morning to the alarm going off. It was five-thirty and time for her to get up and go to school. She rushed through her morning ritual of showering, getting dressed and eating breakfast, only to realize that there was no one there to rush for. Quickly stopping herself from crying she ran out to the car, threw her stuff in the back seat and drove to the school. When she arrived at the school she realized that she was early by about two hours, having nowhere else to go she decided to wander around the school. Upon her wanderings she found a chorus room, and the library the two places where she would be spending most of her time. She had just finished inspecting the library's advanced reading when the first bell rang; she grabbed a book called "Duets for Men and Women" and left the library to rush to her class before she was late. Her first class was Advanced Placement History, and she was the only one in the class that actually cared about History, with the exception of a boy who was seemingly like her; only he had friends. Hotaru upon entering the class thought back on Aaron's advice about ignoring her classmates, realizing that she would have to become emotionless, she sat down in her front row desk and stared straight ahead, ignoring the comments that were being thrown at her by the people behind her. This was how her day went until she came to her last class: chorus. She hadn't realized how much she missed singing until she walked onto the polished hardwood floor and heard the music pouring out from the stereo. She, being the first one warmed up and started singing, no written words just the music and her thoughts; to her it was like floating around the room; forgetting all of her problems. The music stopped, and Hotaru realized that she had an audience when applause filled the room. Turning to face the rest of her class she looked around and saw that unlike most classes this one had more boys than girls. **Must be because it's a private school,** she thought. She took a swift bow and then moved to the back of the class where she stayed until the period was over. After class Hotaru walked out of the room and headed toward the parking lot only to be stopped by a boy who looked all too familiar. 

" Great job back there." He said. 

" Yeah" Hotaru replied, sidestepping him and continuing on. 

" You know you shouldn't stay at the back, the teacher will never notice you." He commented, running to catch up with her. " My name is Heero." He finished putting his hand out. 

" Hotaru" she answered, walking past his outstretched hand. 

" Are you signing up for the duet class next week?" he asked. Hotaru stopped, interested in what he had to say.

" I want to, but I don't have a partner." She replied softly. 

" Well, then your problem's solved. I'll be your partner. Besides I was looking for one anyways and after your display today I thought I should ask you before anyone else did." He finished carefully. Hotaru stared at him, as if he had grown a second head. " What? You can't be surprised that you sing well." He said in disbelief. 

" No, it's just that I wasn't expecting to get an offer and I was debating if I should ask anyone." She replied without feeling. 

" Yeah well, it would be good if we practiced together before the class, so I'll talk to you tomorrow and we can work something out." He said confidently. Hotaru waked past him, and was in her car before he could say anything else. She sped away leaving him in the parking lot alone and wondering what the hell was wrong with her. 

Hotaru stared at the mansion that was displayed in her view as she stepped out of her car. It looked as if it was even bigger than the school. She walked up the front steps and rang the doorbell which she heard resound throughout the house. As soon as she rang the bell a butler who questioned who she was and then let her in deciding that her answers were good enough answered it. She waited in the foyer shifting from foot to foot, until Heero appeared from behind a door. He looked at her apprehensively before deciding that he should take her to the studio. He led her down several hallways and finally into a large, carpeted room. She went over to the piano and hit a note and began warming up, totally ignoring the boy who was in the room with her. Heero walked over and stood next to her, singing the harmony in her ear. As if to say she didn't care, Hotaru stopped warming up and looked at him expectantly. 

            "Well, in order to join the class we have to audition so I thought that we should look for a song and then practice it." He said tentatively.

            "What did you have in mind?" she asked after nodding in agreement. 

            "I thought that we should do something slow, definitely something modern though." He replied. 

            "Fine, where do we look?" she again questioned. 

            "Well, I was thinking that you could write it and then I'll put music to it. That will most definitely give us bonus points." 

            "No." she said abruptly. 

            "Why not? That song that you sang the other day before class had so much…feeling and I know that it wasn't something that's written." He said. She looked at him for a while before telling him that she would do it. He nodded and said that she could stay and write or the 'practice' could be over and she could go home. 

            "I think I'll go home." She replied, before getting up and starting towards the door. "How do I get out?" she asked, embarrassed at having to ask him for something. He led her back to the door and waved to her as she sped out of the driveway. 

            Hotaru ran to the chorus room hoping she wasn't going to be late. Arriving just before the bell rang she put a simple sheet of paper on Heero's desk and looked at him hopefully as he read what she had wrote. 

            "That's awesome." He said as soon as he finished reading. "It'll be perfect."  She nodded at his reply and took her usual seat at the back of the class. After class had finished she walked up to Heero and asked when the next practice was going to be. 

            "We could have it today if you don't mind. I want to get started right away."  He replied. She gave him her customary nod and walked beside him to the parking lot. They both went to Heero's mansion only to find upon arriving that all his friends were there. Which to Hotaru meant endless introductions and less practice time. 

            "This is Duo," Heero said, when they walked into the living room and found everyone there. He was pointing to an excited young man with long hair that was in a braid. "Quatre," he said, gesturing to the man next to Duo who had white blonde hair and was smiling politely at her. "Trowa," was the next name that came. This was a boy whose bangs covered one of his green eyes. "And last but not least Wufei." He said, pointing to a black haired boy who was scowling at her. She nodded at each of them and then looked at Heero expectantly. 

            "Oh, and this," he said, gesturing to Hotaru "Is Hotaru."  All the boys nodded at her with the exception of Wufei who simply scowled deeper. " Yeah, well we're gonna go practice so I'll see you guys later." Heero said quickly before grabbing Hotaru's arm and running up the stairs, leaving behind four very confused boys. When they reached the rehearsal studio Hotaru jerked her arm out of Heero's grip and walked into the room and sat down. He looked at her, puzzled before going over to the piano and playing a few notes out. 

            "So sing how you want it to sound." He told her impatiently. She took out her copy of the words and looked at them thoughtfully before starting out. She began very low and full of feeling until it became his part and then she stopped, not knowing what to do next.

            "Ok, so I've got down the basic melody. So we can try it out now." He told her after she had stopped. She began again and this time he filled in his part and they continued on. Soon they were changing the melody and even some of the words to fit the song. The day came for their audition and the judges were blown away by the lyrics and music of the original song. 

Hotaru:                                                       He walked out on me

He left me alone 

With no one here but me and my thoughts

I'm all alone and no one cares but me.

Heero:                                                            She told me to leave

To take my stuff and go

So this is where I'm at, 

All alone and no one cares but me.

Both:                                       I'm fighting the world and the stereotypes

Trying to hold on before I'm wiped out. 

My thoughts shout and tell me I should die. 

But I try to live on my own

I'm all alone 

Hotaru:                                        He told me he'd call as soon as he could

Heero:                                              She told me she just needed to think

Hotaru:                                                  But he lied and I've cried

And all that's left is for me to die. 

Heero:                                                      But she lied and I've cried 

And I've tried to live. 

Both:                                                   But it seems that I can't go on

I'll soon be gone from here

And all the tears will fall 

I'm all alone

            The judges looked at the duo as the song ended, all clapping politely.

            " You wrote this yourselves?" asked a small, slightly overweight woman. 

            "Well, Hotaru wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music but basically we changed bits and pieces of it, and well you just heard the finished product." Heero stated nervously. The woman nodded approvingly.

            "You both obviously have wonderful voices and you will definitely be accepted into the class but we are also having trouble coming up with original pieces so we've been asking students to enter pieces as audition pieces and I think that you just won the position of lyricist's and music composers." Said a severe looking gentleman who had sat in the corner throughout the audition. Heero looked at Hotaru with an excited look on his face only to find that she had the same exact look on her face. She nodded and he looked back at the judges and immediately thanked them. 

            "God I can't believe it, lyricist's and music composer's along with the spot in the class. This is awesome!" Heero declared elatedly. Hotaru merely nodded to his enthusiastic actions. "How can you not be excited about this?" he asked. 

            "Just because I'm not climbing Mt. Everest or telling the whole world about our accomplishment doesn't mean I'm not excited." She told him coldly. Heero looked shocked, he couldn't believe that she could just return to her detached self. He remembered when he had been like that, the only thing that had brought him out was love; but she didn't even seem to care about affection. 

            "Hey, are you ok?" he questioned her quietly. 

            "Yeah, I'm fine." She answered, too quickly for his liking. 

            "Are you sure?" he asked again.

            "I'm fine Heero. Why do you always push me to be happy and excited? Not everyone's lives are as good as yours ok." She said angrily. Heero felt the air turn cold; he even felt snow start to fall. ~*~ Whoah, snow in the middle of August! ~*~ He thought. He came out of his revere only to see Hotaru get into her car and speed away. In her car Hotaru tried to calm herself so she could make the snow stop falling; certain that at any moment someone was going to pop into her backseat and accuse her of making a blizzard come out of nowhere in the middle of August. 

            "Hotaru calm yourself, it was only Heero trying to get you to tell him everything about yourself." She said to herself; this causing her breathing to return to normal and snow to stop falling. Yet in place of heavy breathing and snow there were tears and rain, which was more like a downpour. " Get yourself together Hotaru!" she yelled to herself. "Dammit Aaron, I need you here. I can't keep hiding everything, I need someone to talk to." Her words fell only on damp air as she screamed at no one in particular. She stopped at her apartment and got out of her car, putting her jacket on and walking down the road letting the rain mask her tears instead of driving and having to face Heero with a wet face and nothing else. The butler opened the door and let a dripping wet Hotaru in, knowing that she wasn't some strange mysterious stalker. 

            "Hotaru!" Heero said, amazed that she was there. He walked up to her, seeing the dripping wet girl but also noticing the tears. "Hey are you ok?" he asked. She shook her head in response, causing little droplets of water so spray across the floor. He walked up to her and gave her a hug, not minding that she was soaking wet. He felt her small body shake against his as she cried like she had never cried before. Heero led Hotaru into a small living room and sat her down on the couch as he went to get her some dry clothes. Hotaru looked at nothing and just seemed to stare into space while he was gone, wondering why the hell she had come here of all places. Heero came back with a pair of pajama pants and a black t-shirt. He showed her where the bathroom was and returned to the living room to wait for her. She came back a few minutes later with the pants and t-shirt on, both of which were very big on her. He took her clothes from her and put them in the dryer and came back and sat down next to her on the couch waiting for her to start the conversation.

            "I don't know why I'm here," she said slowly. She looked at him for a minute or so and then asked him a question " Ca n I trust you?" Heero nodded in response and Hotaru took his word for it. "Well, what I'm about to tell you, I'm not sure you'll believe and if you do you can't tell anyone." She said, making Heero swear not to tell a soul. "I'm not like a normal person." She started, " Well, basically whatever my severe emotions are affect the weather." She said straightforwardly. Heero looked shocked and she turned away so she could continue without causing a flood. " Like today, I was cold to you, not letting you in, therefore I almost started a blizzard and afterwards when I was in my car I was crying, angry tears and then sad, so there was thunder and lightning and a downpour. When I'm angry wild fires spread or it just gets really hot, even if it's wintertime. When I'm sad the day becomes cloudy and when I cry obviously it rains. So I've learned to become emotionless…sort of." She finished looking at him, expecting him to scoff and say that she was lying. But he didn't do what she expected he nodded in response and then asked her to continue. 

            "That's it, there's really nothing else, except for Aaron." She told him.

            "Whose Aaron?" he asked. 

            "Aaron is my protector and my boyfriend…sort of. Well, he found me when I was young; he saved me from my dad who was experimenting on me. We ran from my dad and the police and his gang whom he was very much in trouble with.  He had to go back and do something for them so that they wouldn't bother us anymore and he won't be back for month's maybe even years. I don't even know if he's still alive." She started to cry again and Heero moved over and hugged her, muttering nonsense words into her ear until she stopped again, noticing that while she was crying the rain began once again to fall hardly. She didn't pull out of his embrace after she cried and after a while he noticed that her breathing had become steady and he knew that she was asleep. He deftly picked her up, careful not to wake her, he carried her up the stairs into a spare room that was just across the hall from his. He went back downstairs to wait for his friends to get home and to tell them that he wanted Hotaru to move in with them. The next day, Hotaru woke up to find herself into a strange place and at first wondered where she was, scared that something had happened. Then she remembered the previous nights events and guessed that she was still at Heero's mansion. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen only to find five young gentlemen sitting at a kitchen table discussing 'someone' moving in with them. She cleared her throat loudly to declare her presence and was immediately welcomed by all of them except Wufei who seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face. She sat down in a chair next to Heero when he motioned to it. 

            "We were just thinking about you moving in with us." Heero told her. She looked up at him sharply knowing that if he had told them what she was, she was in big trouble. He leaned down and whispered in her ear.

            "Don't worry, I just told him that you were having trouble at home." She nodded, relieved that he hadn't revealed her secret. They talked for about an hour and soon came to the same decision; Hotaru was going to move in as soon as she could have all her belongings at the mansion. So it began that the very next day the whole group went down to her apartment and carried what little she owned down to the already furnished room that she had spent the night in before.  Over the weekend she got to know her housemates better and realized that they weren't such bad guys. All-be-it Wufei was a chauvinistic pig, Trowa was silent half the time, Duo was pulling pranks on Wufei, and Quatre was just too nice to yell at anyone. She spent a lot of time with Heero over the weekend, just hanging out and having someone to talk to was a big deal to her so she became his shadow just as he became hers. It soon began that wherever you saw Hotaru you saw Heero and vice versa. The following Monday after she moved in she rode to school with the boys in one of their many cars. The boys joked around and then laughed at their jokes while Hotaru listened with her usual stony face. Heero noticed that she was falling back into old ways that seemed to have vanished over the weekend and stopped his antics to talk to her. 

            "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked quietly.

            "Nothing's wrong." She told him monotonously. 

            "Liar," he stated simply, "You're going back to emotionless Hotaru, and I'm sure that you'll get there soon." 

            "I can't be like this," she gestured at the rest of the boys who were still laughing, "at school. People are mean at school, well at least to me anyways." The car had gotten silent in the middle of her statement and all the boys had heard the last remark. Suddenly Hotaru didn't want to be in that car she wanted to be in her own car, with her own problems and no one else knowing about them. Wufei turned around in his seat to look at her before asking her a question.

            "Who is mean to you onna?" he said, tossing onna in there so it didn't look like he cared. 

            "Everyone." She said softly. 

            "Come on not everyone is mean to you." Duo scoffed.

            "Ok, Duo if you had seen me in school and hadn't known me would you have laughed at the gothic freak jokes or would you have told everyone in the lunchroom to stop and gone and sat next to me?" she asked pointedly. 

            "I would have…" he started out strongly before getting Hotaru's knowing eye "I would have laughed." He admitted. She nodded emphatically making her point, the car returning to an uncomfortable silence. 

            "If anyone says anything to you, just tell me and they won't be talking for a while." Trowa said calmly. Hotaru looked up, first shocked that Trowa had spoken to her and then because of what he had said. She looked at him thoughtfully, thinking of how he reminded her of Aaron before nodding gratefully. That day at school anyone who even so much as made a comment about how she looked or acted found themselves in deep trouble with five of the toughest guys at school. The next day the people who passed her in the hallway merely waved and said quiet hellos, that ending the pointing fingers and raucous laughter. Hotaru soon became used to the fact that no one would accept her and that no one would laugh at her either. Thus she lived for the next week or so until their duet class started. Heero picked her up that day at her next to last class so that they could walk to chorus together.

            "Are you excited about the duet class?" he asked tentatively. Hotaru merely nodded in response, which for her had now become a habit. 

            "Are you?" she questioned him back. Heero looked at her, he hadn't expected her to go any further into the subject.

            "Well, yeah. I mean we do have more of a job than anyone else." He told her.

            "But we're also better than everyone else so it won't be as hard for us as it is for them." She replied, not boasting, merely stating the truth. He nodded realizing that she had now put an end to the subject. As they neared the classroom they heard the noise of the piano and several people warming up. When they entered the room it suddenly got very quiet and everyone turned to stare as the most popular guy in school walked in with the outcast. 

            "Hello class." Said their teacher who had entered right after Hotaru and Heero. " My name is Mr. Schlankovichnicorvic, which is very hard to say and spell so just call me Mr. S."  He told them all good-naturedly. He smiled at the class and gestured for everyone to stand as he took his place behind the piano. The class stood and sang the various notes that he played. 

            "Now," said Mr. S after he had deemed them finished " I hear that we had two very talented students who wrote their own lyrics and music for their audition. And I would like to meet you, so would Heero and Hotaru please stand up." He finished, looking around expectantly. Heero had been paying attention to every word that he had been saying and stood up hurriedly only to have to bend down and tell Hotaru that Mr. S was talking to them. When they were both standing the class turned around and looked at them, shocked that their classmates could possibly do something so astounding. Mr. S smiled as he saw that the two most unlikely people to do something together had indeed done just that, and in doing so had made a stand to the social cliques that had been formed. 

            "Well, it's certainly nice that I don't have to hold auditions for composer and lyricist." He said smiling. "Now class, these two will be writing songs for each of you. Which requires them to get to know you and your voice so we will be setting up sessions for each of y0u with them. Which of course means that you will have to spend time out of class together and practicing." This received several groans from a few of the more popular people but was otherwise unchallenged. " Now I will assign sessions tomorrow and as for today you will get to know each other, so go and sit with a person whom you do not know." The class didn't move until Mr. S waved his hands in the air gesturing them to go to it. Hotaru watched Heero leave and sat alone as a well-known football player took his seat. 

            "Hi, my name's Brock." He said politely.

            " Hotaru," she replied in her monotone. 

            "Did you guys really make your own song?" he asked amazedly. Hotaru merely nodded in response, hoping that she wouldn't have to sit through an hour of this. 

            "That's really cool. Hey, I just wanted you to know that I didn't support all the jokes the guys were cracking about you." He told her, a serious look on his face. Hotaru looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

            "Thank you. That's very nice of you." She said. As the class came to an end Hotaru waved to Brock as she stopped so Heero could catch up.

            "Making new friends?" he inquired, after seeing her wave. She gave him a dirty look and he laughed at her. "I talked to Mr. S and he said that our first session is tomorrow after school, and we can use our place or the chorus room." He informed her. 

            "I think that we should use ours." She told him, " It gives me more of a creative flow I guess you could call it." She laughed at herself and looked at him. He nodded, accepting that, that was where they would meet. The next day they met up with the people that they were to write a song about. It was a couple, a girl hardly taller than Hotaru with large, blue eyes and a very nice figure along with a boy who was taller than Heero and very muscular. They were in the middle of a lover's spat, which made their meeting very interesting. 

            " Hello, my name is Maria." The girl said introducing herself " And this cheating bastard is my boyfriend Joe." She said, introducing the boy and emphasizing the cheating bastard. Hotaru almost laughed out loud, and Heero was obviously holding back a smile. 

            "I'm Hotaru," Hotaru said, " And this is Heero." She said pointing at Heero. They led Maria and Joe into the practice room and told them to make themselves comfortable. 

            "So, obviously you have good voices, but we need to hear them so please when I hit a note sing it." Hotaru told them. Both Maria and Joe looked taken aback at the sudden seriousness in her voice. Hotaru walked to the piano and hit a C which both sang. By the time the voice interrogation was done they had found that Maria was a mezzo- soprano and that Joe was a baritone. Both Hotaru and Heero thanked them and told them that at their next session, which was in two days, they would have their song. Hotaru and Heero then spent the next two days working on music and lyrics and by the next session with Maria and Brock they were surprised with the finished product.

Maria:                                                      I thought you loved me 

I thought you cared.

But obviously not enough if you dared to do what you did.

Brock:                                                                  I do love you

And I do care

And I'm sorry that I've torn you in two.

Maria:                                                    I thought you were the one

I thought we would last

But I didn't know that you would stray this fast.

Brock:                                                           You are the one for me

And we will last

And won't you forgive me for what has past.

Both:                                                        I don't understand you

And what you do to me

Can't you see that you're tearing me apart?

Consider my heart

Maria                                                        I thought you loved me

Brock:                                                                    But I do

Maria:                                                  I thought you cared for me

Brock:                                                     Can't you see that I do?

Maria:                                                     Well the time has come

For me to say good-bye 

And you needent even ask why

~*~Musical Interlude~*~

Maria:                                                  I loved you with everything

But, consider my heart

Heero began playing the music as soon as they had finished reading the lyrics and motioned for them to sing along as best they could. It started out very slow and then got faster, and both Maria and Brock were taking out their frustration on the song, making it more beautiful than either Hotaru or Heero could ever have thought of. The following Monday when they performed the song for the class Maria and Brock received unending praise and Mr. S beamed at Hotaru and Heero for the remainder of the class, which they spent interviewing their next couple. Their next pair was not as outgoing as Brock and Maria and were in fact best friends, which gave Hotaru some idea of music for them. Hotaru spent the next few days locked away in her room writing various things, she was having trouble coming up with something, considering she'd never had a best friend. She eventually came up with something and the two girls Alicia and Brittany could not have been happier with what she wrote. 


	2. Bad Things Can Happen to Everyone

~*~*~Last Time~*~*~

Their next pair was not as outgoing as Brock and Maria and were in fact best friends, which gave Hotaru some idea of music for them. They both harmonized very well unlike a few of the others. Hotaru and Heero then spent the next few days working on a haunting melody for the younger girl Brittany and a bright harmony for Alicia. The end result was something even they couldn't fathom. 

~*~*~Now~*~*~

Brittany:                Life is sometimes terrible

Alicia:                     Life is sometimes grand

Brittany:                Life is sometimes so worthless

Alicia:                     Life is sometimes so priceless

Brittany:                Life sometimes seems like it'll never end

Alicia:                     And yet we still go on

Both:                       Life is what we make it for us

Life is how we take the universe for our own 

Life is ours to make what we'll do with it

Brittany:                Life sometimes causes pain and hurt

Alicia:                     Life sometimes brings so much joy and love

Brittany:                Life can be so sad

Alicia:                     Life can be so full of bliss

Brittany:                Life sometimes ends

Alicia:                     Life sometimes begins

Both:                       Life is Life

                                    Life is Death

                                    Life is what you make it

            This is what the class heard on a stormy Tuesday afternoon when Alicia and Brittany sang their song. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that besides Hotaru and Heero these were the best. As usual Heero and Hotaru got their applause at the end of the duet and they then sat back down to meet two more people waiting to have their own song written for them. There was a line of people waiting when Hotaru took her seat, they all looked anxious, wondering if their songs were going to be as good as the others that they had heard. Hotaru however, went up to Mr. S's desk and had a quiet conversation with him before taking her seat yet again. It was not until several minutes after she had sat down that Mr. S stood up and made the announcement that for two weeks there would be no more songs written, due to the fact that neither Hotaru nor Heero had gotten any sleep within the past few weeks. As soon as he was finished Mr. S sat down and Hotaru and Heero got their stuff and left the room. Heero walked ahead of Hotaru until they reached the front of the building and then they began to walk side by side. 

            "You know, all of your lyrics are rather depressing." Heero stated matter-of-factly. Hotaru looked at him puzzled. 

            "Yeah, so what?" she asked, taken aback at the non-approving tone in his voice.

            "I was just wondering when you're going to write some stuff that will make people cry out of joy, instead of sadness." 

            "I will write happy-go-lucky songs when I can cry out of joy instead of sadness." She told him, stopping to look at him. 

            "Why are you sad?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject. 

            "Because life isn't good. I mean, no offense but I miss Aaron a lot. Plus, I feel left out when I'm hanging out with you and the rest of the guys."  Heero gave her a strange look before shrugging and walking to the car. Their ride towards home was silent with the exception of Hotaru's Walkman blaring her haunting music out of the headphones that were on her head. Heero kept taking glances at her while he thought she wasn't looking and it was during one of these glances that the semi-truck that was going down the opposite side of the road swerved to miss another car and hit theirs. Heero tried to swerve out of the way but was unsuccessful and only made the semi hit Hotaru's side more. All that he saw before blacking out was Hotaru's face covered in blood and her Walkman hanging limp in her hands. 

~*~Several Days Later~*~

Heero opened his eyes groggily and looked around the stark white room. He tried to sit up and it was only then that he noticed that he was hooked up to several machines that were making bleeping noises at him. He reached with his right arm and took out the needles that were stuck in it, which only caused the machines to bleep their warnings of death at him more. Heero looked around and saw a pair of pants and a shirt lying on a chair, he put them on and took his hospital gown off and opened the door to his room, only to be stopped by two orderlies and a nurse that looked as if she had been there when the hospital had been built. One of the orderlies had a wheelchair with them and made him sit down in it while the other proceeded to turn the still bleeping machines off. The nurse came up to him and stuck him with a syringe that was full of a medicine that made his head spin. Throughout this whole ordeal Heero had been asking one question over and over again: "Where's Hotaru?" It was only after the nurse gave him the medicine that she answered his question.

            "She's in the ICU Mr. Yuy. Apparently she got the worst of that semi." Here the nurse gave a cackling laugh that made Heero's head spin even more.


End file.
